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cyan · cool

#bdf6ec

a pale, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Pale Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Whisper Reef

RGB
189, 246, 236
HSL
170°, 76%, 85%
CMYK
23, 0, 4, 4
Luminance
0.8279

#bdf6ec is a pale electric cyan, 170° on the wheel and 83/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.56:1). As text it scores 1.20:1 on white — use #128370 instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(170 76% 85%)rgb(189 246 236)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bdf6ec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bdf6ec
Hue
170°
cyan
Saturation
76%
electric
Lightness
85%
pale
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
90%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8279
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
83/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
17.56:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 4.3
Chroma
20.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.931
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 20
Web-safe
#CCFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue170° of 360°
Saturation76%
Lightness85%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bdf6ec.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool83% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red13%
Green80%
Blue7%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#bdf6ec
HEX (8-digit)#bdf6ecff
RGBrgb(189, 246, 236)
RGBArgba(189, 246, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(170, 76%, 85%)
HSV / HSBhsv(169, 23%, 96%)
HWBhwb(170 74% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(23%, 0%, 4%, 4%)
LABlab(92.9 -19.9 -1.1)
LCHlch(92.9 20.0 183.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.931 0.059 183.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(69.08, 82.78, 91.68)
Decimal12449516
Display P3color(display-p3 0.741 0.965 0.925)
Web-safe#CCFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bdf6ec;
background-color: #bdf6ec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bdf6ec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bdf6ec] bg-[#bdf6ec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bdf6ec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.741, green: 0.965, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.741, green: 0.965, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BDF6EC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBDF6EC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBDF6EC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 246, 189)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(189, 246, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(189, 246, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 189, 246, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7412f, 0.9647f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{189,246,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bdf6ec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bdf6ec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0F705F, #D3EEE9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bdf6ec h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F3FCFA;
  --brand-100: #E7F9F6;
  --brand-200: #bdf6ec;
  --brand-300: #9CF2E3;
  --brand-400: #6BEBD4;
  --brand-500: #3AE4C6;
  --brand-600: #1DD7B7;
  --brand-700: #18B498;
  --brand-800: #14907A;
  --brand-900: #126859;
  --brand-950: #0C4138;
  --brand: #bdf6ec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE5;
  --brand-hover: #9EF2E3;
  --brand-pressed: #7EEDDA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FCFA',
        100: '#E7F9F6',
        200: '#bdf6ec',
        300: '#9CF2E3',
        400: '#6BEBD4',
        500: '#3AE4C6',
        600: '#1DD7B7',
        700: '#18B498',
        800: '#14907A',
        900: '#126859',
        950: '#0C4138',
        DEFAULT: '#bdf6ec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FCFA,
  '100': #E7F9F6,
  '200': #bdf6ec,
  '300': #9CF2E3,
  '400': #6BEBD4,
  '500': #3AE4C6,
  '600': #1DD7B7,
  '700': #18B498,
  '800': #14907A,
  '900': #126859,
  '950': #0C4138,
);
$brand-base: #bdf6ec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FCFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#bdf6ec", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9CF2E3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6BEBD4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3AE4C6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#1DD7B7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#18B498", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#14907A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#126859", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C4138", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #bdf6ec · 17.56:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.20:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.56:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bdf6ec as text scores 1.20:1 on white and 17.56:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0F705F at 5.01:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#128370 · 4.66:1
AA on white−56% L
#128370
The quick fox
#0E6455 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−63% L
#0E6455
The quick fox
#bdf6ec · 17.56:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bdf6ec
The quick fox
#bdf6ec · 17.56:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bdf6ec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #17A78E is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#bdf6ec on white: 1.20:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bdf6ec on black: 17.56:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bdf6ec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bdf6ec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.20:1AaAa
Slate 501.14:1AaAa
Slate 1001.09:1AaAa
Slate 2001.03:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4002.14:1AaAa
Slate 5003.98:1AaAa
Slate 6006.34:1AaAa
Slate 7008.66:1AaAa
Slate 80012.23:1AaAa
Slate 90014.93:1AaAa
Black17.56:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F1EFEC
deuteranopia · #E6E7ED
tritanopia · #ADF8F3

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #bdf6ec is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3FCFA
#E7F9F6
#bdf6ec
#9CF2E3
#6BEBD4
#3AE4C6
#1DD7B7
#18B498
#14907A
#126859
#0C4138
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F3FCFADarkest = 950 · #0C4138Text step on white = 900
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.015 183.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 183.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 183.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.046 183.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.054 183.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.059 183.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.059 183.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 183.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 183.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.041 183.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 183.1);
}

Colors that work with #bdf6ec

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDE5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B8D
Captions on the surface
Accent#B91358
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0F705F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9FCF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#9EF2E3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7EEDDA
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CCFBF3
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #bdf6ec

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #0F705F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #17A78E

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

cleantechnicalfreshclinical

Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight15/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#F6BDC7
Analogous left#BDF6D0
Analogous right#BDE3F6
Split-complement 1#F6BDE3
Split-complement 2#F6D0BD
Triadic 1#ECBDF6
Triadic 2#F6ECBD
Tetradic#D0BDF6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°170°

#bdf6ec sits at 170°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.1%
Green96.5%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
189
0xbd
G · 0–255
246
0xf6
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan23.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow4.1%
Key (black)3.5%

Total ink coverage is 31%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bdf6ec text on a black background

contrast 17.56:1

Card sample

#bdf6ec text on a white background

contrast 1.20:1

Card sample

#bdf6ec on grey

1.09:1

#bdf6ec on its own surface

1.13:1

#bdf6ec on its dark surface

13.45:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bdf6ec;
Background color
Panel with #bdf6ec background
background-color: #bdf6ec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bdf6ec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(189, 246, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(189, 246, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bdf6ec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bdf6ec, #BDDAF6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdf6ec, #BDCCF6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bdf6ec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bdf6ec;
caret-color: #bdf6ec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bdf6ec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9FCF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bdf6ec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bdf6ec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bdf6ec over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(189, 246, 236, 0.5)
rgb(189 246 236 / 50%)
#bdf6ec80
hsl(170 76% 85% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bdf6ec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bdf6ec1a#F8FEFD
20%#bdf6ec33#F2FDFB
40%#bdf6ec66#E5FBF7
60%#bdf6ec99#D7FAF4
80%#bdf6eccc#CAF8F0

Gradients from #bdf6ec

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDFDFA, #bdf6ec 45%, #0F705F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bdf6ec, #A2C4F2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdf6ec, #F6BDC7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2FDFB 0%, #bdf6ec 45%, #0F705F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EAFCEE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D8ECFA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0F705F 0%, transparent 65%), #bdf6ec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bdf6ec

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#bdf6ec in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyTravelHealthcareMedia
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 17.56:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#bdf6ec, answered

What color is #bdf6ec?

#bdf6ec is a pale electric cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 4.3). It sits at 170° on the hue wheel with 76% saturation and 85% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #bdf6ec?

rgb(189, 246, 236) — 189 red, 246 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 74.1% / 96.5% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #bdf6ec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(170, 76%, 85%) and hsv(169, 23%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bdf6ec a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8279 and perceived brightness is 90%, so black text on it reaches 17.56:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bdf6ec?

Black. It scores 17.56:1 against #bdf6ec, versus 1.20:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bdf6ec accessible on a white background?

#bdf6ec on white scores 1.20:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #128370 to reach 4.5:1, or #0E6455 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bdf6ec?

#F6BDC7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F6BDE3 and #F6D0BD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bdf6ec?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDE5 for borders, #4B9B8D for secondary text, #B91358 as an accent and #0F705F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BDF6D0 and #BDE3F6 stays calm, while #F6BDC7 is the loudest partner.

What is #bdf6ec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(23%, 0%, 4%, 4%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #bdf6ec warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 83 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BDF6D7; nudged cooler, #BCECF7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bdf6ec?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 20 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bdf6ec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bdf6ec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bdf6ec] or text-[#bdf6ec], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #bdf6ec with 50% opacity?

rgba(189, 246, 236, 0.5), or #bdf6ec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEFBF6; over black, #5F7B76.

Is #bdf6ec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFFF, ΔE2000 4.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bdf6ec mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #bdf6ec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDFDFA, #bdf6ec 45%, #0F705F). For more colour, a short hue run to #A2C4F2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bdf6ec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bdf6ec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.